PhotoShelter is a website-builder app that lets photographers store, market and sell their photography online. In this case study, you can see details of how we doubled PhotoShelter’s sales.

A short video interview with the client

“They really looked at the results of the tests to determine what the next steps should be.”

A transcript of the video

“Hi, I’m Allen Murabayashi. I’m the co-founder and CEO of PhotoShelter.com. We build websites and tools for professional and aspiring photographers. I was introduced to Conversion Rate Experts at the SEOmoz conference where Ben was speaking, and I was so enthralled with what he was saying about conversion. And it sounded a little bit too good to be true. But the proof was sort of staring us in the face in terms of the case studies. So we contacted Conversion Rate Experts, and we said, ‘Hey, what can you do for us?’

It sounded a little bit too good to be true … But the proof was staring us in the face

“We went through an initial intake process where they tried to learn about the business. And then they set up a series of tests that they wanted to try with us. And the tests ranged from design changes to the homepage, to copy changes on the tour. And as we moved along, the tests weren’t just kind of serially done out of a handbook; they really looked at the results of the tests to determine what the next steps should be.

The tests ranged from design changes to the homepage, to copy changes on the tour

“They’ve instilled a testing culture within our company. And what I’ve realized is (i) it takes a lot more thought into the planning of testing. And the other thing is that (ii) you have to continually test—you’re never done with testing. That’s one of the key things that they try to impart to any company.

They’ve instilled a testing culture within our company.

“Along the way over the past several months when we’ve been using Conversion Rate Experts, we’ve really started to understand, ‘Hey okay, I’m starting to get this. I’m starting to understand that we don’t change a web page just because it hasn’t been refreshed in a couple of months.’ That’s typically the way we thought about creative in the past.

“But now it’s really been how do we drive more sign-ups and conversions coming from the homepage? How can the tour page be more effective? But even finer points, you know, what does the navigation say? The primary navigation, so that people understand when they’re coming to the site what they’re supposed to be doing.

We don’t change a web page just because it hasn’t been refreshed in a couple of months.

“Then we took the next step which was, not only did we want to make visual changes to the website, and copy changes to the website, but the product/market fit for how people were introduced to the website was also tested.

The product/market fit for how people were introduced to the website was also tested.

“So we had had a free offer previously, where people could sign up and get a free account which they could use in perpetuity, and then CRE came in and said, ‘You know what? You have a de-featured free account, but what you really need is a full-featured trial account. Why don’t we create a one-dollar trial for you?’ And I guess you could in retrospect say, ‘Hey that was an obvious thing to test,’ but when you’re in the midst of running your business, that’s probably the last thing that you’re thinking about. You’re thinking about how can I increase my revenues. You’re thinking about the next board meeting. You’re thinking about the new features. And rarely do you reassess the way that you’re presenting the product back to the customers.

Rarely do you reassess the way that you’re presenting the product back to the customers.

“And the cool thing is, we’re not done testing. We still have a lot of different things that we’re going about doing. And as we move through the different phases of testing, we continue to be more bold on the things that we want to test. So the product/market fit, usability, things that are secondary to design changes and copy changes, are now within the realm of possibility for us, because we’ve seen the results.”

The cool thing is, we’re not done testing … We continue to be more bold on the things that we want to test.

What you should do now

1. If you’d like us to work on your website—to dramatically improve your conversion rate and profits (like we did for all these companies), then claim your FREE website strategy session. On this free phone consultation, one of our experts will discuss your conversion goals and suggest strategies to double your sales.

2. If you’d like to learn conversion for free, go to our “Learning Zone” page, where you can download templates of million-dollar winning pages. Or, if you’d like us to build your company’s in-house capabilities (not for free), then contact us and we’ll discuss your requirements.

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Conversion Rate Experts has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding achievement in innovation. It has been given in recognition of us “codifying the scientific methodology that companies like Google, Facebook and Apple now use to improve websites.”